Seniors respond to TV marketing
Seniors respond to TV marketing
What drug companies tell your clients
Direct-to-consumer advertising by pharmaceutical companies is sending older Americans to their physicians to discuss available prescription drugs in record numbers, according to a national survey of adults over 50 recently released by Age Wave IMPACT, an Emeryville, CA-based marketing firm.
The marketing firm surveyed 2,965 adults about their reaction to consumer marketing efforts by pharmaceutical companies. If you haven’t paid much attention to direct-to-consumer marketing, the study findings may surprise you:
• 92% report they saw or heard advertising for a prescription drug.
• 43% report they would challenge their health care company if they wanted a drug they saw advertised that wasn’t covered by their plan.
• 62% report that advertising made them aware of medication options they hadn’t considered before.
• 35% report speaking to their physician about a drug they heard or saw advertised.
• 33% report discussing an advertised drug with their physician resulted in a prescription.
• 28% report speaking with a physician about a medication because of a television ad, compared to 26% who saw a magazine ad and 18% who saw a newspaper ad.
• 46% report they are most likely to respond to television advertising for prescription drugs, compared to 20% who said they would respond more to magazine ads.
• 34% report that they would definitely talk to their physicians about drugs they see advertised.
• 23% report that their relationship with their physicians improved when they initiated conversations regarding drugs they learned about through direct-to-consumer ads.
• 18% report they oppose pharmaceutical companies advertising prescription drugs on TV.
Case managers should be aware that clients are paying attention to what they see and hear on television and in magazines, notes Marlys Severson, RN, BSN, CCM, president of SCM Associates, a case management company in Bell Flower, CA. "These ads make none of the comparisons of available therapies that a clinician would make. There is no discussion of what other drugs are on the market that may be more efficacious. There’s no discussion about possible drug interactions. There are many factors that go through the mind of a clinician when making decisions about treatment options that patients don’t consider."
In addition to consumer advertising, many patients are actively searching for health information on the Internet. Severson recommends that case managers treat patients’ interest in drugs they see advertised or information they pull from the Internet with respect. "My approach is to tell the patient, Let me do a literature search. Then, we’ll sit down with your physician and talk this over.’ I also send everything I find in my search to both the patient and the physician.
"We’ve been striving for a more-educated consumer. We have to respect those patients who are taking a more active role in their health care," Severson notes. "It’s up to us as case managers to help point them in the right direction now that we’re getting the informed consumers we’ve been trying to get."
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